HKIFF In Recent Years
Hong Kong, colonized by the British from 1841 to 1997, has become a cultural icon of the postcolonial city. In the twenty-first century, it competes with Tokyo, Pusan, Singapore, Shanghai, and Bangkok as festival, marketplace, and funder of Asian films. For Hong Kong film, the years between 1983 and 1993 were, in fact, a glorious golden period with unprecedented achievements in quality, quantity, and market success. On the international stage, as its products became an integral part of the globalized economy, Hong Kong cinema gained a prestige it had never enjoyed before. At the same time, Hong Kong film was enjoying a creative boom. Accomplishment was reaped on many fronts. It was an era of unparalleled inventiveness as filmmakers boldly ventured into untried territories, tinkering with new stories and ways to tell them. According to author Cindy H. Wong, "Perhaps it was an expression of the confusion, anger, angst, sadness, and self-pitying felt by the people, a potent cocktail of emotions urgently in need of release. As such, Hong Kong films embodied a profound loneliness that manifested itself in a film language of dazzling audacity. Watching them was to submit to an endless bombardment of surprises and sensory pleasures. Unexpectedly, this fertile period came to a sudden halt after the smooth transfer of sovereignty into Chinese hands." It is clear that filmmakers, faced with the huge unknown to come, emptied their hearts and minds into their work to make the most of the time left before the Reunification (with China). The HKIFF divides its sections to help audience members make their viewing selections. In Hong Kong, the Gala presentations are for popular works, while Master Classes and Auteurs include more established filmmakers and Indie Power is for newer independent works. In addition, the HKIFF recognizes local production by having a Hong Kong section. In the last few years, more and more youth-oriented sections have been added to many festivals to attract and nurture a new generation of festival-goers. The HKIFF is a cultural institution whose organizers see one of their priorities as nurturing the local educated cinemagoer. For example in 2008-2009, the HKIFF offered an Ingmar Bergman retrospective to commemorate the great director’s death in 2007. Between summer screenings and another special section in the 2009 festival, the organizers made almost all his films available with extensive catalog commentary, including relevant documentaries and even rare footage, including his early TV advertisements. At the same time, festival programmers are keenly aware of the changing tastes of their young audiences. The 2007 HKIFF opened with an artsy but accessible film, I Am a Cyborg, but That’s Ok, featuring the South Korean teen heartthrob Rain in a leading role in a Berlin-winning film by Korean auteur Park Chan-Wook. The festival also showcased contemporary Asian cult films in a section entitled “I See It My Way.” The festival is vital to the local filmic, artistic, and sociocultural worlds. It participates in other arts and music festivals that elevates the cultural status of the country. The HKIFF launches six weeks of metropolitan markets and expositions ranging from music to furniture. Organizers argue that the festival boosts cultural tourism, invites business, and improves the quality of life for urban populations. During the HKIFF screenings, the festival often uses venues from or seeks affiliations with other arts and cultural institutions, such as museums, galleries, art centers, and universities. Panels in lecture halls, crowds in public spaces, and coffee in nearby cafes reinforce the familiarity of interested audiences, filmmakers, producers, distributors, and budding auteurs in the creation of HKIFF's filmic public sphere. Sources Lim, Song Hwee. The Chinese Cinema Book. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan ; 2011. 186. Print. Wong, Cindy H. Film Festivals Culture, People, and Power on the Global Screen. Piscataway: Rutgers UP, 2011. 10, 12-13, 25. Print.